Social Media Etiquette: Think Before You Post

Social Media Etiquette: Think Before You Post

Read these etiquette rules before your next social media post.

As a means of communicating, social media plays a key role in advertising your business. With creating your social media profile also comes along managing your engagement between you and your followers.

Reputation management and social media etiquette walk hand-in-hand: social media allows businesses to connect with customers that would normally be hard to reach. When it comes to hands-on engaging with users online, it can be hard to not over-promote, throw “Twitter fingers,” or figure out the best times to post without flooding your users’ timelines.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to having a positive online presence and managing your communication with your followers.

Know that everyone sees your posts: “If you wouldn’t show it to your grandma, don’t post it.” Keep in mind that everything you post about on social media is a visual representation of what your business is about. Keep your content keen to how you want users to view you and how you want to showcase your brand online.

Don’t be needy: Social media is all about engagement, but don’t come off as too needy by constantly asking your audience to “retweet,” “like,” or “share” your content. By posting relevant and quality content, your users would be more inclined to engage with your content which will give you the response you’re looking for from them. See what content gets the most engagement, and revamp your content marketing strategy around your insights on what gets the most engagement.

Respond to feedback: Respect and acknowledge your audience by promptly responding to comments on your social media profiles. No one likes seeing that one-star review on their Facebook, Google MyBusiness, or Yelp profile, but one tactic you can practice is promptly responding to that feedback, and attempt to professionally solve the issue. This makes your business appear active, as well as shows other users that you care about your clientele’s experience with your business.

Don’t over-promote: While you came to social media to promote your business, users came to social media to be entertained. Your users already know who you are and the services you provide, know the rest of the job is to stay on their minds by having your name on their newsfeeds. Depending upon your industry, try to make at least 70% of your informative and entertaining with industry specific topics, and use the other 30% to promote your services and products.

Keep it consistent: While you may want to be active on social media, you don’t want to turn off your audience by over-doing it. Be cognizant of how often you want to post on social media, and keep your posting time consistent. Creating a social media calendar is the best way for you to figure out what content you want to post and when you should post it.